According to industry sources across the entertainment sphere, it's only a matter of time before Apple ventures into the subscription streaming service realm and directly challenges Netflix at the game it presently dominates.

Jeffries analyst Peter Misek raised this intriguing prospect once again this morning in a new report that suggests deals are in place and about to become public with regard to Apple launching a subscription service very similar to what Netflix offers its large customer base.

And following the recent announced price hike by Netflix (the consequences of which - if any - are yet to be seen), the juggernaut streaming and DVD rental service could be ripe for the picking by Apple, at least with regard to some of its presently huge market share.

"As part of Apple's roll-out of cloud video services (and eventually an iTV), we believe Apple has unannounced deals with all/most of the studios/TV networks that are similar to the subscription streaming deal between Amazon and CBS," Misek wrote in a note to investors.

i'd like to see an apple tv 2.0 with apps more than i want another subscription streaming service. the only problem with current streaming services is the availability of new content and i doubt he content holders are going to cut apple any amazing deals.

have you seen the selection of movies on netflix instant stream? Compare it to the selection of movies on iTunes. In the end you'll see that If apple starts streaming movies, without doing mailbox DVDs like netflix, then they will have an EMENCE library! I would pay double the Netflix standard for that!

If Apple were to offer current new releases for streaming rather than being delayed like Netflix that would be cool. @GmAz - Apple would not unveil a standard definition streaming service lol. I truly hope you were joking. As for the cost they will be forced to be competitive with Netflix it wouldn't even be worth their time.